Same ship: different names and cargos

TheHR Constellation came under the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge this morning (July 6, 2017) about 11 o’clock and went over to the Hallett #5 dock (at right) to load bentonite. This is the first trip for this ship under this name; she was here twice in 2007 when she was the Beluga Constitution, once in July, 2007 when she discharged wind turbine base units from Spain and after that, loaded wind turbine blades built in the United States and took them to Spain.

The next month they were back to discharge wind turbine blades before loading peas for Dunkirk, England. All the pictures below were taken during her first visit

Above and below, she is tied up at the dock and was getting ready to discharge the base units.

Above, the first to be discharged were pieces on the weather deck (above). Below, the last to go were down on the lower portion of the hold.

The ship has an unusual covering over the bow, sometimes called a hurricane bow. Inside the cover, it looks like a normal bow. Portals on the side provided a nice look at downtown Duluth and the Aerial Lift Bridge below.

The Beluga Constitution comes with its own maritime school. located on the ‘X’ deck of the boat. That deck has 4 two person rooms and a classroom (below).

In the galley of the Beluga Constitution during the visit, first mate Marko Milicevic, from Croatia, on the right, was reviewing the day’s work with Captain Andrzej Kocmiel, from Poland. The first mate traditionally overseas the discharge of cargo from the ship. Here, he was preparing to depart for an evening in Duluth while the Captain watched over the discharge. Earlier in the day, the captain, some members of the crew and the 6 cadets took some time off and went sightseeing in Canal Park, Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock. Now it was the first mate’s turn.

Above, the Captain confers with lead stevedore Zoran Pedisic belore loading the wind turbine blades into the ship’s cargo holds. Loading the ship is much more complicated than discharging it and takes more cooperation between the ship and local stevedores.

Above, the first wind turbine blade is lowered into a cargo hold. Below, the below deck cargo holds were now filled with the blades; the last one were welded onto the weather deck when the ship was about ready to depart.

The blades were loading onto trucks, one to a truck, and taken to a lay down area a short distance away.

With the blades on board, it was time to leave. Agent Scott Hilleren (left) was on board to take care of all the paper work involved when shipping cargo from one side of the world to the other. Captain Andrzej Kocmiel (right) checks over last minute details, about 2 hours before they plan to depart.